Dimitris Vlantas

Dimitiris Vlantas (; 1908 – 1985) was the secretary of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in Crete from 1944 to 1946, and general in charge of the communist-led Democratic Army of Greece during the Grammos and Vitsi battles at the end of the Greek Civil War.

Early life Dimitris Vlantas, aka Dimitris Vlandas, was born in 1908 in Marathos, Crete. From a young age, he joined the Communist Youth of Greece (OKNE).In 1924 he entered the central committee of the OKNE and in 1932 enters its politburo.

Political activity in Greece Having been spotted by Nikos Zachariadis he joined a select number of high potential officials. In 1936, the Ioannis Metaxas regime outlawed the Communist Party of Greece and Dimitris Vlantas was imprisoned at Nafplio.

Civil War

During the last phase of the civil war, Zachariadis and Vlantas regrouped the remaining forces in the strongholds of Grammos and Vitsi, commanded by Dimitris Vlantas. This strategy was negatively viewed by Enver Hoxha and lives in Brussels. His grandsons, Alexis Vlandas and Tim Vlandas, are both academics in France and the UK, respectively. He fled Romania for France in 1967 where he was joined by his family in 1968. In 1983, he donated his archives to the Bibliothèque d'Histoire Contemporaine of the University of Nanterre. They can be accessed through the Bibliothèque Nationale website.